Elaborate nail art may be a staple of girly Japanese fashion, but that has not stopped the vast majority of men quizzed about it reporting that they actually hate it – much to the consternation of nail salons throughout the land.

Held up as one of the “three sacred treasures of femininity” (alongside eyelash makeup and elaborately curled hair), nail art is regarded by many young Japanese women as an essential fashion accessory, and certainly ranks as one of their favoured blogging subjects.

However, only 35% of 149,312 Japanese questioned reported liking nail art, compared to 60.8% who said they did not like it, whilst an understone contingent of 3.7% had never even heard of it.

Broken down by gender, only 24.9% of men liked it, compared to fully 70% who disliked it.

Meanwhile, 47.8% of women liked it, with 50% disliking it.

In spite of all this, it seems unlikely jewel encrusted talons will be going out of fashion any time soon – they are just “too cute”:

The Aya Hirano collection:

Amongst men there is the usual incomprehension at female fashion foibles:

“Men aren’t interested in this stuff…”

“I hate it. I guess everyone else does too.”

“Nail art looks pretty inconvenient!”

“It’s inconvenient alright. Your fingertips get heavy and you have to put gloves on when you go to bed…”

“Why do this? And at least take it off when you go to bed.”

“It is unsanitary if you ask me.”

“It’s a good marker for women who have no intention of ever doing any housework.”

“At least take them off if you are preparing food!”

“Not applying nail polish is rude in some cases, but nail art takes it too far. Transparent or light pink looks good though.”

“Rude? What are you talking about? Where did these manners come from?”

“The ones with the overly elaborate nail art just look like hostesses at a cabaret club.”

“The ones with talons which look venomous just make me wither…”

“Lumping fake nails and gel nails in with manicured nails is just wrong.”

“It’s not like men can tell the difference.”

“Men just hate overly elaborate decoration like that, it’s not limited to nails.”

“Women really think it will make them popular with men, so if you see one who tries hard at least praise her efforts a bit.”

“Don’t worry, they don’t really think it will be popular with guys. But do praise them, although the ones who want that kind of praise are probably better avoided.”

“It’s just one of those things women insist on doing which men will never understand.”

“Nail and eyelash art are essential for women to look good. It’s just embarassing not to!”

“They just get the wrong idea when you call her cute when she’s showing off her nails, which the guy is probably not interested in.”

“Women are just narcissists.”

“Honestly I doubt any fashion girls are actually interested in appeals to men.”

“They aren’t doing it to appeal to men, it’s to appeal to their own sense of being kawaii.”

“Women’s magazines just incite competitive consumption amongst women. When they talk about ‘increasing you femininity’ and competitiveness amongst other women, it isn’t in terms of what appeals to men.”

“Get out of it girls, you’re dreaming!:”

[A manga advert for “Nail Salon Venusrico”:]

[“Hey, nice nails. Marry me.”]

[“Thanks to the tips of her nails, she was able to marry a hot guy! Next, it’s your turn!”]

“Ha, she’s in heaven.”

“Excuse me whil I go compliment a girl on her nail art and then marry her.”

“This explains why they do it perfectly though. It’s not because they are trying to appeal to guys, but because they are competing amongst other girls to get a good guy. They’ll stop if their boyfriend says he doesn’t like it, like they’ll stop one of those pointless diets.”

“My girl manages to look cute and natural without all this maintenance. Natural is number 1!”

I'm a girl and even I think the freakishly long over-elaborate nails are tacky and a huge nuisance (how to hell can you do anything even basic with those??). If it's some kind of nail art competition and not for everyday purposes then yeah go crazy, but the sad reality is that most of these nails are from people who do wear them everyday.

2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 14, 22 and 23 look pretty ok because they're not very long (they're just long enough to be naturally long but not to get in the way of work) and not loaded with loads of crap.

I paint my nails different colors and simple stuff like that because it's fun, so I'd like to say at least one thing: if you a woman do it to "attract" men you're a dumbass. Do it because you enjoy it.

I agree, its something you do because you like it its not about appealing to men. but I guess guy should give up video games,manga and anime figurines because women don't like it.

btw I like anime and I don't care for nail art but I do care for the shit double standard. All people should get their heads out of their asses and stop thinking every hobby a person enjoys is for the sake of the opposite sex or that a persons hobbies should cater to their own preference.

That's bogus, if a woman paints her nails she should do it for herself and because she enjoys it and not to appeal to anyone. That says more about her self-esteem than anything else and is more worrying than temporarily painting a small part of your body for fun.

Blue, green and other non-skin colors look great, too. It's more how dark/light your skin is which will make a color look bad or good. I can pull off medium to light greens and blues but not any yellows or oranges.

Aye, i'm cool if it was minor things well painted on nails and more importantly they fit and don't look like friggin clown lightbulbs, other stuff is just idiotic. Clearly most of those girls have no friggin artistic sense of their own :( Not to mention all those unhygenic sticky plastics they keep on adding (and long nails are dangerous)

It doesn't have to be for men...? I think it can look pretty damn tacky myself a lot of them time but just because a woman does something it doesnt mean it's for men. Some people just have weird hobbies. Have you heard of 'Decotora?' They're truckers in japan that decorate their trucks in even more gaudy ways than some girls decorate their nails, but its not like they do it to attract women (or men), they do it because its an outlet for their creativity.

Me, a man dislike nail art. Oh, I understand very clearly that woman into fashion do not mean to entice man, it is also for showing off to another woman.

There's a joke of when a man watch a woman, the eyes focus on the face, tits and ass.

When a woman watch another woman, the eyes bewilder around the cloth, pants/skirt brand, hair style, shoes/high-heel, handbag, in short, every gadget and equipment of the other woman.

But what I am going to say, if a woman try to flirt with a man and doing those ridiculous nail art, it is a waste of time, as man do not care about it at all, and sometimes find it repulsive of woman wearing a "too shiny" nail art.

My opinion is mixed. For everyday use I think its tacky. BUT I do appreciate the subrealistic side of life and I think they look great in the same way a mural looks great. In others words it's something nice to look at for a brief while.

I find single, simple, one colored nail polish (all red, pink, and other colors that would also work as lipstick) to be pretty sexy actually, but any weird colors like green and orange without any reason behind them (i.e. not in use with a halloween costume) or something crazier just looks ugly, tacky, creepy, and/or disgusting, and also pointless.

Oh, and I forgot annoying and obtrusive, for everyone involved, lol. On top of that, ever heard the complaint about men complaining about their wives jabbing into them overnight in bed? That can't be pleasant...